Stapled gypsum plasterboard lath bundle



June l2, 1956 K. R. EcKRoTE ETAL 2,750,031

sTAPLED GYPsUM PLASTERBOARD LATH BUNDLE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct. 20, 1951 will INVENTORS. i nnei CM 21M/2m W mmyw f June l2, 1956 K. R. EcKRoTE ET Ax. 2,750,031

STAPLED GYPSUM PLASTERBOARD LATH BUNDLE Filed oct. 2o, 1951 2 sheets-sheet 2 1N V EN TOR.

STAPLED GYPSUM PLASTERBOARD LATH BUNDLE Kenneth R. Eckro'te, Western Springs, Ill., 'and William W. Tolley, Port Edwards, Wis., assignors to United States Gypsum Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application October 20, 1951, Serial No. 252,326

4 Claims. (Cl. 206-60) The present invention relates to a gypsum pla-ste'rboard lath bundle.

in the art of providing plastered walls and partitions, it has been customary to employ lath which was nailed t the studding whereafter plaster was applied, first as a rough coat to which there was then applied a smooth finishing coat. In the last thirty years the ordinary wooden lath has been largely displaced by so-called plasterboard which consists of a core of gypsum with paper cover sheets thereover. Such plasterboards were made in comparatively small sizes, at least much smaller than the socalled gypsum wall board, which latter was intended to be the nal wall, it not being intended to plaster thereon. Generally the so-called gypsum plasterboard lath has been furnished to the consumer in size about Vs thick, 16 wide, and 48" long, but at times longer lengths were available. In constructing a wall or partition, these plasterboards were nailed, with their width extending horizontaily, onto suitable supports, which might have been wooden studs or metal studs. The plasterboards were either nailed or clipped to the supports, depending upon whether they were made of wood or of metal.

For the purposes of convenient shipping and handling, it has become the established practice to pack and ship 16 x 48 plasterboards in bundles containing from 4 to 6 boards each. Though most boards are generally thick, they can be supplied anywhere from Mi" to 1/2" in thickness, the actual thickness of the bundles therefore varies; the thicker boards usually were put up in bundles of four, and the thinner boards were put up in bundles of from 6 or more. The problem arose as to how to keep the bundle together so that it could be .handled as a unit. In one procedure the bundle was provided with strips of paper at each side extending from the top side of the topmost board tothe outside of the lower board, thus holding the boards together. Machines were devised for producing such bundles, asrexempliied by the patents to Birdsey Nos. 1,696,877, 1,730,113 and 1,946,056. Other patents to form bundles are shown, for example, in the Nold Patent No. 2,271,488. and the Youngfelt et al. Patent No. 2,271,470. In the case ofthe Nold patent the plasterboardv was providedV with holes or perforations through which cylindrical rivets, extended, the ends of which were pinned over the surface of the uppermost and lowermost boards, respectively. In the case of the Youngfelt et al. construction, the boards were notched at the ends and a suitable clip was inserted in the slot, the ends being bent over against the surfaces ofthe boards..

The present invention, however, relates to plasterboards which may or may not be perforated and can be used where the fastening devices of Nold and of Youngfelt et al. would not be applicable.

Another attempt to fasten plasterboard bundles was by "means of clips which subtended the ends of the bundles by arsuicient spring tension toV hold them together. As considerable tension was required, this often caused the surface ofthe boards to be severely injured, particularly when removing the clips. i

Patented June 12, 1956 Regardless of the type of means used to form the individual boards into bundles, there also remained the problem of opening such bundles under job conditions. It happened that when mechanics were attempting to use the' plasterboards, considerable time would be spent in opening the bundles so as to obtain the individual boards. Sometimes the bundling means were dicult to remove, with the result that an undue amount of time had to be spent in preparation for the actual lathing operations. With the present day high hourly labor charges, this lost time became an item of considerable magnitude.

When it is considered that plasterboards of this type are deliberately madev somewhat more brittle than wallboard, primariiy so that they may be more readily cut and subdivided by scoring them and then snapping them off along the score lines in order to obtain pieces which could be tted around obstructions such as door and Window openings, etc., the bundling means had to be of such a nature that the bundles might be opened without danger of prematurely breaking or otherwise injuring the plasterboards.

it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a plasterboard bundle in which the boards are held firmly to each other while still enabling the rapid separation of the boards by simple means readily at hand and available to the craftsman.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a plasterboard bundle which is stapled together under specific conditions, and which while assuring the firm holding of the individual boards to each other, still enables the bundie to be readily taken apart for use.

Further objects of the present invention will appear from the further description hereinbelow when considered in connection with the two sheets of drawings accompanying the present spccication.

The problem of providing an eiiicient though simple plasterboard bundle is solved by the present invention by the expedient or stapling the boards together.

However, the position of the staples is a critical one, and it has been found by long experimentation that in order to be elective, both as to holding the bundle together and also to enabling opening by extremely simpleroperations, the staples had to be located within a certain area contiguous to the respective ends and edges of the bundle. Thus with a plasterboard 16" wide and 48 long, it was found that if the staples were placed in an area at least 2 inwardly from the ends of the bundle and not more than 14 in from the same end and at least 21/2" in from either of the sides, the boards would be firmly held and would not be subject to separation during shipment. Of course, if the boards are larger, the relative proportions had to be changed accordingly, and it was foundV that, irrespective of the actual length and breadth, the staples should be inwardly from the ends of the plasterboard a distance at least equal to about im the length of the boards and inwardly from `the sides of the boards at least about 1%4 of their width. In case o f a 16" x 48f board, this therefore would place the staples within a critical area which is l2 x ll", the 12" lines being inwardly about 21/2 from the sides of the bundles, and the 1l lines inwardly, respectively, 2" and 14 from the ends of the bundle.

The staples may be either the standard two-shank staples or they may be staples having a single shank or a double shank. The gauge should be of such thickness as to hold the bundle together, but excessive thickness is not desirable or necessary. It has been found that a 17- gauge wire staple may be used, but an IS-gauge staple is preferable since the ends of the staple legs can then be straightened more readily when the bundle is opened and the staple at the` other end of the bundle is more readily removed. These gauge sizes (Washburn and 3 Moen) correspond respectively to a wire diameter of from about 0.054 to about 0.0475".

Referring now to the drawings: Fig-1 is a` perspective view of a finished bundle, made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, on a somewhat enlarged scale, show, also in perspective, a portion of one end of a bundle of six boards and illustrate the initial step in the breaking up of the bundle;

Figs. 4 and 5, respectively, on a somewhat smaller scale,

are side elevational views in which Fig. 4 shows the bundle partly separated and Fig. 5 shows the bundle with the staples almost completely removed;

Fig. 6 is a cross section through the bundle of Fig. l along the line 6-6 thereof; and

Figs. 7 and 8 are, respectively, diierent forms of staples which may be substituted for the preferred form more completely illustrated.

The bundle is formed by assembling the desired number of plasterboards in superposed relationship, there being, for example, six boards which is the usual and common type of bundle, as illustrated in the drawings. These boards, designated, respectively, as n, b, c, d, e, and f, are stapled together by means of staples 9 of which there are at least two, these being located within an area, as indicated in Fig. 2, at least 2" inwardly from the ends and at least 21/2 inwardly from the sides. With a 16 x 48 bundle, this would therefore make the area within which the staple is to be located 12 x l1", with the l2 line running longitudinally of the bundle and the ll line across the bundle. Of course, if the bundle is larger, these actual dimensions will be increased correspondingly, but the distances inwardly from the sides will be in the same proportions as shown in Fig. 2.

The iirst step in opening the bundle is illustrated in Fig. 2, and consists in having a workman insert the blade 10 of a lathers hatchet 11 between two of the boards inside the bundle, preferably the middle of the bundle; then by twisting the hatchet as indicated in Fig. 3, the bundle will be separated into two halves, each consisting, for example, of three boards, the rst half being boards a, b, and c, and the second half being d, e, and f. This will cause the prongs 12 of the staple to be pulled out straight, with the result that the staples will be pulled entirely clear of the boards a', e, and f, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

At the same time the lower staple 9 will also be withdrawn at least from boards f and e, and, if the width of the blade 10 is large enough, even entirely from board d.

The workman may then, by grasping the respective halves of the bundle, further pry them apart so as to withdraw the two prongs of the lower staple 9 even from board d; thereafter the workman slams the two halves of the bundle together, which causes the free ends of the staples to be driven through the holes which it has made in the boards c, b, and a so that it will be pushed out of board a almost for its entire length. In fact, it often happens that the staple will actually be literally shot out of its holes and will fall to the ground. If it does not, it can be easily grasped by the ngers and pulled out altogether. This thus liberates the boards from each other so that they may be nailed up to form the support for the plaster.

It will be evident that it is quite necessary that the position of the staples be within the critical area as herein defined, the reasons being as follows:

Supposing the staples were placed nearer the center relative to the ends of the boards, this would make the ends of the boards only loosely held and very likely to be separated by being prematurely pried apart in shipment, which would be especially true if the bundles were set on end. On the other hand, if the staple is too close to the end edge of the boards, the removal of the end staples cannot be accomplished in the manner shown, and,

also, there would be insuicient separation at the other end of the bundle to separate the second staple.

By placing the staples within the specified areas, it thus becomes possible readily to insert the edge of a suitable prying-apart tool, such as a lathers hatchet, between the boards, its edge being inserted deeply enough so as evenly to distribute the prying-apart force over a larger area about the top of the bundle without danger of snapping off a part of the boards. With brittle boards, therefore, breakage is thus avoided and the bundle is pried far enough apart so as to make the boards accessible for the further operations of completely separating the individual boards from each other.

If the staples were too close to the ends of the bundle, the edges of the hatchet could not be inserted deeply enough, and moreover, the amount of force required to be asserted by the hatchet would be greater, for there would not thus be affored the advantages of the increased leverage which is available when the staples are placed as taught by the present invention. Such an increase of force would also tend to injure the cover sheets of the boards. The criticality of the area has been demonstrated by many tests, and it was found that unless the staple was placed as shown, and the second staple placed in a corresponding position at the other end, the easy and certain method of separation herein described would be virtually impossible without damage to the board. Inasmuch as it is the normal tendency of anyone seeking to separate the bundles into individual boards to apply the hatchet at about the center of the narrow ends of the bundle, it follows that the most desirable location of the staples will be approximately along the longitudinal center line of the boards; and the drawings so indicate. Obviously, if the staples are some distance from the center line, it will be advantageous to insert the blade of the hatchet about in line with the staples to avoid distorting lateral strains, and to make the applied leverage more directly effective.

There has been shown in the drawing (see Fig. 6) a staple 9 which consists of two legs 9a and 9b respectively, with the turned-over ends 12 which subtend the outside of the lowermost board f, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Now, it will be evident that the length of the leg 9 and end 12 added together should be only slightly greater than the thickness T of the bundle but still sufficiently long enough to form a shippable bundle, because otherwise, when prying the bundles apart, these prongs would not be properly straightened so they could be readily withdrawn from the boards f, e, and d. Normally the end 12 should be less than double the thickness of the board. It is quite essential that these prongs be straightened out substantially completely, for otherwise when the boards c, b, and a are slammed against the boards d, e, and f, the staples will not be driven out, as illustrated in Fig. 5.

While the two-legged staple is illustrated, it is also possible to use a staple, such as that shown in Fig. 7, made of wire or metal bent so as to form a completely flat head 13 and two legs 14 and 15 respectively, it being understood that the ends of such a staple would be bent over outwardly, as indicated in the dotted lines at the end of the staple, as shown in Fig. 7.

In the case of Fig. 8, a staple may be used which has a at head 16 and a single shaft 17. In other words, it would be very much like a thin wire nail with the intention that such a staple be turned over, as indicated by the dotted line at the bottom of the staple 17. In this case it would be advisable to have the turned-over portion no greater than the total thickness of the lowermost board f.

The method of driving these staples is, of course, outside of the process of the present invention, as machines and devices are well known which will insert staples of all kinds into various materials. In the preferred embodiment the staple is formed from a spool of suitable relatively stiif steel wire, the machine both forming the staple and driving it through the bundle and turning over the ends, all in a single operation. Of course, machines in which premade staples are fed will likewise be operative in the case of staples such as are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. These might be driven by hand with a hammer with a suitable underlying metal or stone plate so that the ends would be automatically turned over as the staples are driven into the board. Any one of these expedients is to be considered as within the scope and purview of the present invention.

The essential feature lies in the avoidance of end clips, the making of unnecessary and undesirable holes in the boards, and of elimination of expensive paper bundlestrips such as have been used in the past and which required cumbersome operations for their removal under job conditions. This was especially true of the paper strips which were used for securing the bundles, as they also had to be ripped from the face of the boards with the consequent defaeement and injury of the boards.

There is also the additional fire hazard resulting from the accumulation of the removed strips on the floor of the room or building in which the lath is being used, not to speak of the work necessary to remove this accumulated waste and its disposal.

The small staples which are thrown out of the bundle in the present operation present no re hazard, and even the number of them accumulating in the lathing of a goodsized room occupies only a very small space and can be readily swept up with the other debris during the cleaning up of the room after the plastering operation is finished.

Accordingly we claim:

1. A plasterboard bundle consisting of superimposed plasterboards stapled together directly through said plasterboards by thin Wire staples the legs of which are slightly longer than the thickness of the bundle and are bent over against the side of the bottom board thereof,

the position of said staples being not less than about two inches inwardly from the ends of the bundle and `substantially along the central longitudinal axis of the plasterboards.

2. A plasterboard bundle as defined in claim l in which the staples are not further in from the respective ends of the bundle than fourteen inches.

3. A plasterboard bundle consisting of from four to six plasterboards, each about sixteen inches wide and about forty-eight inches long, stapled together directly through said plasterboards by iron wire staples of from about 0.0475 to about 0.054 in diameter and extending through the boards and located not less than about two inches nor more than about fourteen inches inwardly from the ends of the plasterboards and substantially along the central longitudinal axis thereof.

4. A plasterboard bundle consisting of a plurality of superimposed plasterboards about forty-eight inches long and about sixteen inches wide stapled together by readily removable thin wire staples having a diameter of from about 0.0475 to about 0.054 and located about eight inches inwardly from the longitudinal edges of the boards and from about two inches to about twelve inches inwardly from the sixteen-inch sides of the boards.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,354,509 Nold Oct. 5, 1920 1,759,592 Rohwedder May 20, 1930 1,920,837 Birdsey Aug. l, 1933 2,070,931 Taylor Feb. 16, 1937 2,341,119 Rost Feb. 8, 1944 2,486,840 Harris Nov. l, 1949 

1. A PLASTERBOARD BUNDLE CONSISTING OF SUPERIMPOSED PLASTERBOARDS STAPLED TOGETHER DIRECTLY THROUGH SAID PLASTERBOARDS BY THIN WIRE STAPLES THE LEGS OF WHICH ARE SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN THE THICKNESS OF THE BUNDLE AND ARE BENT OVER AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE BOTTOM BOARD THEREOF, THE POSITION OF SAID STAPLES BEING NOT LESS THAN ABOUT TWO 